Monon Family Health Clinic celebrates one year in new facility

Monon Family Health Clinic is celebrating one year of serving the community in its new location. The clinic got its start in 2006 in an old, cramped insurance building which posed challenges.

“We didn’t really have separated spaces for a lab room, for a break room, for a wait area,” said Yadira Santiago, one of three nurse practitioners at the clinic. 

Enter the new John G. Brown Family Health Clinic in Monon, which opened in August 2018 with six exam rooms, a pharmacy, and lab. 

With the expansion, the clinic is now able to better serve its more than 8,000 patients. The clinic fills important healthcare needs in this largely rural community located 45 minutes from Purdue University.

The ties to Purdue run deep. The Purdue University School of Nursing and North Central Nursing Clinics opened two new community health clinic sites in 2016, essentially doubling access to primary health care for residents in rural areas of north central Indiana.

The Family Health Clinic of Burlington and the Family Health Center of Wolcott joined clinics in Delphi, launched in 1995, and Monon, established in 2006.

This particular community health center model is rather unique in the Federally Qualified Health Center world, in that it is a collaborative partnership with the School of Nursing at Purdue and the nonprofit North Central Nursing Clinics organization. The clinics are nurse-led, meaning that services are provided by advanced practice nurses.

School of Nursing faculty join full-time clinic providers at all of the sites to deliver care and many serve as preceptors for graduate pediatric, adult gerontology and family nurse practitioner students.

”The partnership between the North Central Nursing Clinics and Purdue is in concert with the University’s land-grant mission,” says executive director Jim Layman. “It generates opportunities for students to learn about nursing, health care and health care systems in rural settings. Students from nursing, pharmacy, nutrition, communications and engineering have learning experiences that also generate service to the clinics.”

Learn more about the Purdue Nursing Clinics and see a Family Health Clinics timeline.

Visit Family Health Clinic of Monon or follow them on Facebook.